
“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
Source: The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book I: The Book of Three (1964), Chapter 1
Context: "Why?" Dallben interrupted. "In some cases," he said, "we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself."
“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
Anatol Rapoport, "Modern Systems Theory – An Outlook for Coping with Change", paper given in the 1970 John Umstead Distinguished Lectures at North Carolina Department of Mental Health, Research Division, on 5 February 1970, and appeared in Revue Francaise de Sociologie, October 1969, p. 16
1970s and later
“Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.”
“Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.”
As quoted in The 21st Century Elementary Library Media Program (2009) by Carl A. Harvey, p. 3
Quoted by Jane Howard in The Power That Didn't Corrupt http://books.google.com/books?id=MNSxAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Bromidic+though+it+may+sound+some+questions+don-t+have+answers+which+is+a+terribly+difficult+lesson+to+learn%22, Ms. magazine (October 1974)
"Paperjack" in Dreams Underfoot : The Newford Collection (2003), p. 396
Context: It's the questions we ask, the journey we take to get to where we are going that is more important than the actual answer. It's good to have mysteries. It reminds us that there's more to the world than just making do and having a bit of fun.